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Dining out with kids can be fun By Tamar Troim Tags: consumer affairs, restaurants  We have all experienced this familiar scene: A family with two or three children who are normally pleasant and well-behaved sits down at a restaurant for lunch. Quiet reigns as everyone examines the menu, but after a few moments the incessant policing begins, as if the Ritalin had suddenly worn off. "Sit nicely." "Leave the packets of sugar alone." "Stop rocking your chair. You'll fall backward." It happens in the best of families. The parents are too busy with their children to enjoy even one mouthful of the chef's delectable offerings. Advertisement "Why even bother taking children to restaurants?" wonders Ronit, a mother of two, in an animated discussion on TheMarker Cafe Internet forum. "The way I see it, everyone suffers - the parents, the children and the diners around them. Dining out is a form of entertainment, and if I spend hundreds of shekels on a meal and a babysitter, I don't want other people's children at the next table. "What bothers me most," continued Ronit, "is parents who take their children to a cafe or restaurant instead of spending quality time with them. The parents are trying to have the best of both worlds, but everyone ends up losing out. Restaurant dining is not a suitable activity for children, the food is not to their liking, and the parents would probably prefer to leave the children with their grandparents and enjoy the company of other adults." Some people, however, are not willing to give up restaurant meals, and are certain they can accustom their children's palates to fine dining at an early age. A survey conducted by the www.rest.co.il Web site found that 37.3% of parents take the children only to restaurants that define themselves as "child-friendly;" 18.8% take their children to all types of restaurants; and 5.4% of the parents who answered the online questionnaire confessed that they simply stopped going out to eat after their children were born. Alona and Avi, a couple in their forties who have three children, aged 2, 5 and 15, said they love eating out and always take the children. Where do they go and how do they enjoy themselves? "The little one eats everything," says Alona. "It doesn't matter where we go or what's on our plates, she'll taste it and will usually enjoy it. Our middle daughter won't eat anything except schnitzel, so it must be on the menu. We won't go anywhere that does not offer food the children will enjoy, because then no one will have a good time." What makes a restaurant outing with children tolerable? "We eat out almost every Saturday, and the most important thing for us is the travel time to the restaurant. It must be within 25 minutes of our home. When we arrive at the restaurant, there must a children's activity right away, such as coloring books and crayons. The time spent waiting for the food to arrive is critical. In the summer it's important that the restaurant have tables set up outside. There should also be other activities nearby, such as bicycles, sand or a children's playground, so there will be something else to do apart from the meal." Avi's toughest challenge is restaurants without children's activities. "Then I have to muster my creativity and artistic skills. I'll draw half a picture, for example, and my daughter has to guess what it is," he says. The best restaurants are ones whose surroundings keep the children occupied, so their parents do not have to do anything. Shalvata, a beachfront restaurant in the Tel Aviv port, is one example, and Ad Ha'etzem, in Airport City is another. Ad Ha'etzem is surrounded by a channel of water and in summer children can even play in it. Beta Cafe in Ramat Aviv has a children's play area, a storyteller and an arts and crafts instructor who does crafts projects with the children. Over the years restaurateurs have realized that parents will come back to a restaurant that treats their children as important customers, and more and more restaurants are adapting themselves to hosting families. Today about 10% of Israel's 6,000 restaurants define themselves as child-friendly, and these are not the fast-food chains or restaurants at children's amusement complexes. What makes a restaurant child-friendly? The most basic requirement is a positive attitude toward children - are the waiters nice to kids or treat them with disdain? A children's menu is also a must, and even less child-friendly restaurants offer children's menus with smaller portions or special dishes for children at lower prices. Most such menus offer small schnitzels, French fries, hot dogs, hamburgers and, of course, plenty of ketchup. The next basic element that is practically a given is a placemat with a picture for coloring, and crayons, to keep the children occupied until the food arrives. According to the rest.co.il Web site, about 15% of Israel's 600 child-friendly restaurants offer real activities, from clown shows and jugglers to bicycle tours, craft and cooking corners and even enclosed lawns with swings, slides, climbing frames and even inflated play equipment. When chef Ilan Roberg established his restaurant on Moshav Livnim, overlooking Lake Kinneret in 2006, he knew children would be an important part of his restaurant experience. What does your restaurant have specifically for children? "The ground floor has a place where parents can leave their children to play or watch TV or DVD movies. If necessary, we also hire a babysitter to watch the children while their parents are dining." Why was a special place for children important to you? "I visit a lot of restaurants, and know that children bother their parents and other diners and are likely to turn the whole meal into an unpleasant experience. That's why I designed my restaurant specifically for families with children." Weren't you worried that a restaurant aimed at families would scare away people without children? "No," says Roberg. "Since the children are on a separate floor, their presence is not felt [upstairs] and they don't bother their parents or other diners." Your restaurant is not cheap. "This is not a low-priced restaurant, but is intended for families and has a children's menu. Our restaurant concept is fine food that families with children can enjoy." It is easier for restaurants outside cities to dedicate part of their space to children. Tzel Tamar, at Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov near Tiberias, for example, is built on 60 dunams (15 acres) of land, and is surrounded by an orchard, fish ponds and a stream with a bridge over it. There is also a big play area with playground equipment. "On weekends there is a woman who leads the children in games, just like a preschool teacher," says restaurant manager Lior Aviran. "This is something new at the restaurant, and the response from parents has been very good." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Ugly becomes uglier Report: Pennsylvania Republicans email likens voting for Obama to rise of Hitler. Mr. Wobbly Man Dennis Ross explains why he's working for Obama and how he'd talk to Iran.

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